Florida State English (Bachelor's): Tuition, Graduate Salary, and Debt

  • Bachelor's in English Language and Literature, General
  • Public university
  • Tallahassee, FL
  • About 295 graduates a year

College Scorecard June 2026 release · BLS wages May 2025

The short answer

Florida State English graduates earn about what English graduates earn nationally, $29,534 in their first year. The typical graduate leaves with $20,750 in federal loans, close to the national median of $24,498. It is one of the higher-paying English degrees in Florida.

First-year earnings$29,53446th percentile of 471 programs nationally
Earnings after 5 years$48,48764% more than year one
Median federal debt$20,7509th lowest of 13 Florida programs
Debt-to-earnings70%Florida median 70%, national 77%

How it compares

Each figure is the median for graduates of the program. The Florida and national columns are the medians across all English bachelor's programs that report the figure.

Five years out, Florida State graduates earn about the national figure and about $3,200 more than the Florida median.

Debt and first-year pay at every Florida English program

Programs in the upper left give graduates higher pay for less debt. Dashed lines mark the Florida medians.

Florida StateOther Florida programs

Hover over or tap a dot to see the school. Only programs that report both earnings and debt are shown.

What graduates earn over time

Pay rises about 64% between the first and fifth year.

Florida State grads, year 1$29,534
Florida State grads, year 5$48,487
All Florida English grads, year 5$45,287

Year 1 and year 5 figures come from different graduating classes, so the growth rate is an estimate.

Does family income change the outcome?

Graduates who received Pell Grants, which go to students from lower-income families, earned more in their first year than other graduates. They also borrowed less. At this program, the outcome does not look worse for students with less money.

Pell Grant recipients, year 1 earnings$30,337Median debt $20,000
Other graduates, year 1 earnings$26,675Median debt $21,244

Paying back the loans

On a standard 10-year plan, the median debt means a payment of about $220 a month, or 8.9% of a graduate's typical monthly pay in the first year.

The government publishes these as ranges to protect privacy. They were measured in 2018 to 2020, partly during the pandemic pause on federal loan payments, so the forbearance share may be higher than usual. Separately, 49 parents took out Parent PLUS loans for these students, with a median of $18,979.

Where graduates work, and what the pay is worth

74% of graduates (270 of 367) were working in Florida one year after graduating. Prices in the Tallahassee area are about 6% below the national average, so a $29,534 salary here buys what about $31,446 buys in a typical US city.

Careers this field leads to

These are the jobs that the federal crosswalk from fields of study to occupations links to English, largest first. Pay is the median across all experience levels.

Secondary School Teachers, Except Special and Career/Technical Education

$60,410

Median pay in Florida. 49,810 people work in this job in Florida. Nationally, jobs are projected to stay about the same in number from 2025 to 2035, with about 63,500 openings a year. Typical education to start: bachelor's degree.

Bottom 10%: $49,210Top 10%: $77,100

Proofreaders and Copy Markers

$35,610

Median pay in Florida. 200 people work in this job in Florida. Nationally, jobs are projected to shrink 1% from 2025 to 2035, with about 1,100 openings a year. Typical education to start: bachelor's degree.

Bottom 10%: $33,620Top 10%: $119,150

About Florida State

English ranks 46th of 60 bachelor's programs at Florida State by first-year earnings. The top three are Computer Engineering ($78,941), Industrial Engineering ($76,426), and Electrical Engineering ($72,425).

Common questions

The median graduate earns $29,534 one year after graduating and $48,487 five years after. The median across English bachelor's programs in Florida is $26,917.

About this data

  • Earnings and debt only include students who received federal financial aid (grants or loans).
  • Earnings only count graduates who were working and not enrolled in more school. Graduates who went straight to further study are not included.
  • Debt only includes federal loans. Private loans and credit cards are not counted.
  • Some schools with several campuses report one combined figure for all of them. We count each of those schools once, and leave them out of Florida comparisons when their main campus is in another state.
  • Scorecard figures describe graduating classes from several years ago. BLS wages are from May 2025.
  • School-level numbers like tuition, admission rate, and graduation rate are for the whole school, not the English program.

Sources

  1. U.S. Department of Education, College Scorecard, field of study and institution files, June 2026 release
  2. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025
  3. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Employment Projections 2025 to 2035
  4. Bureau of Economic Analysis, Regional Price Parities, 2024
  5. NCES, CIP 2020 to SOC 2018 crosswalk, and IPEDS institution directory, 2024

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